The Butterfly Effect
by Davkilla101
Summary: After his wife and daughter are murdered, Ash falls into despair. But when an old friend suddenly appears and gives him the opportunity to turn back the hands of time, Ash resolves to save those who are most important to him. Can he save them, or is history doomed to repeat itself? Rewrite and unofficial adoption of Back To Protect.
1. Chapter 1: Da Capo

**Update Note:** I would like to thank St Elmo's Fire for bringing to my attention several errors I had been making in my writing that were making this story difficult to read. Most of them should be fixed now, and the story should be much more readable than before. Once again, thank you St Elmo's Fire.

* * *

 **ACT** **I:** New Beginnings

 **Arc I:** Kanto

 **Chapter 1** : Da Capo

 _Both pokemon are panting in exhaustion, both knew that the next attack would be their last "Pikachu, use volt tackle!" Ash exlaimed._

 _"Gardevoir use moonblast!" Diantha countered._

 _Both attacks met but Pikachu was able to overpower Gardevoir's attack and meet her with volt tackle, knocking her out. Everyone was silent in complete and utter shock before the stadium broke out in a massive cheer. Diantha was next to recover, as she sighed and smiled sadly before recalling her gardevoir._

 _"You did great Gardevoir, take a nice rest," She whispered to the pokeball before walking towards the center of the field._

 _Ash at this point broke out of his shock and began grinning from ear to ear "We did it Pikachu! We won!" he exclaimed while picking up his giggling and cheering starter._

 _Diantha came up to Ash and extended her hand to offer him a congratulatory handshake as the announcer yelled "Ladies and gentlemen, the new champion of Kalos, Ash Ketchum!"_

* * *

 _"So, why did you bring me here Ash?" Misty asked Ash as they arrived at the beach at Cerulean Cape._

 _Gathering up his nerves, Ash turned to her "Misty, there's something I've been meaning to tell you for a long time now," Misty looked at him expectantly, before her eyes widened slightly as she realized that he was doing this at Cerulean Cape, one of the most romantic spots in Cerulean City. Was he really going to do what she thought he was going to do?_ " _When I met you all those years ago, I began to feel something for you. I didn't know what it was at the time, but this feeling has only grown stronger since then. Misty, you were there for me from the very start and stuck with me through thick and thin when we were traveling through Kanto, the Orange Islands, and Johto. I missed you every single day after you left, and it took me a while, but I finally realized why it was that I missed you so much," Misty's eyes widened further, he really was going to do this_ _"Misty, it was because I love you from the bottom of my heart."_

 _Misty stood in shock as the waves lightly crashed against the beach. After a few seconds she finally composes herself, and proceeds to glomp Ash onto the sand shouting "I love you too!_ "

* * *

 _"Are you ready to begin your training?" Riley asked Ash as he put his bag down in the guest bed at Riley's house._

 _"You bet!" Ash grinned._

 _"Good, get settled in, we begin tomorrow."_

* * *

 _"Do you, Ashton Ketchum, take Misty Waterflower to be your lawfully wedded wife? Do you swear to, for better or worse; for richer, or poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish her from this day forth till death do you part?"_

 _"I do."_

 _"And do you, Misty Waterflower, take Ashton Ketchum to be your lawfully wedded husband? Do you swear to, for better or for worse; for richer, or poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish him from this day forth till death do you part?"_

 _"I do."_

 _"Then you may kiss the bride."_

 _Ash grinned as he dipped Misty and gave her the most passionate kiss they've shared yet._

* * *

 _"By the power vested in me as Queen of Rota, I hereby declare you, Ashton Ketchum, an official Aura Guardian and Knight of Rota."_

* * *

 _"Welcome to the G-Men Ash, we're glad to have you here especially after the work that you and Misty did in Alola."_

* * *

 _"This is unbelievable, ladies and gentlemen! Sir Ashton Ketchum has just defeated the Pokemon Master and has claimed the title for himself!"_

* * *

 _"Ash! It's Team Omni, they're attacking the base!"_

* * *

 _"I'm sorry Ash, but when Team Omni attacked the base, they also attacked your home. Your Wife and Daughter did not make it."_

* * *

 _"You bastard, you will pay for what you did to them! Pikachu, terrawatt thunder, maximum power!"_

* * *

On the summit of the tallest mountain in Johto, Mount Silver, sat Ash Ketchum staring off into the distance much like he did every single day. It had been two years since the week long war against Team Omni that had claimed the lives of the two most important people in his life: Misty, his wife, and Aurora, his beloved daughter. The war had also severely and permanently injured his second best human friend Brock, leaving him confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. To say Ash had been devastated by the war, would have been the understatement of the century. He had been completely and utterly broken by it, and on the first chance he got he absconded to the lonely heights of Mount Silver. His only company up on the mountain was his loyal starter, Pikachu.

Pikachu looked over to Ash, and silently sighed for what seems to be the billionth time. He knew that his trainer was still in deep pain over what had happened that week two years ago, but nothing he tried could ever cheer up his best friend. "Pikapi..." Pikachu muttered sadly turning to look back towards the distance.

Much like every day for the past year and a half, Ash kept replaying that week two years ago in his mind. The utter chaos of the G-Men base, that fateful day still vivid in his mind, the look on Lance's face as he delivered the news that Misty and Aurora had been killed by Team Omni, and the utter pain and anger that he felt at that moment. How he would give _anything_ to bring them back.

" _ **Anything?**_ " said a sudden presence, causing Pikachu to jump slightly in surprise.

"Mewtwo, what do you want?" Ash said without turning around.

Mewtwo ignored his question, Ash turned around giving him a questioning look. " _ **You said that you would give anything to bring them back, yes?**_ "

Ash nodded before saying "If I have to, I would give my life to bring Misty and Aurora back."

Mewtwo nodded before offering a sympathetic smile " _ **I believe I can help you with that.**_ "

Ash was stunned, he had been grieving for them for years, but he can bring them back somehow? "H-How w-would you help with that?" Ash asked the psychic pokemon.

" _ **Make no mistake, I**_ _ **myself**_ _ **can not bring them back to life, you must save them with your own power. All I would be able to do to help is to send you**_ _ **back.**_ "

"Send me back?" Ash asked, confused as to what the psychic pokemon meant.

" _ **Yes, as in send your consciousness back in time.**_ "

"You can do that?" Ash asked. Mewtwo merely nodded.

Ash was once again stunned, just how much power did Mewtwo posses? Nevertheless, he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth and was overjoyed at the prospect of being with the love of his life once more. Sure, he would have to work very hard to save his family, but that is a labor which he would gladly do a thousand times over if it meant that they would be saved.

"Can Pikachu come with me as well?"

Mewtwo gave him a soft smile " _ **Yes, your little electric mouse will go back with you as well.**_ "

"But, why are you helping me? Ash asked.

" _ **Consider this as me**_ _ **repaying you for all the times you've helped me in the past**_ " Mewtwo stated with a small smile. His expression then turned serious " _ **I must warn**_ _ **you**_ _ **however, that what I'm about to do for you is by no means sanctioned by Dialga, the ruler of time. It is by no means an easy task, and should you make any significant changes to the timeline, like you're intending to, then the keepers**_ _ **of time**_ _ **will begin to pursue you in order to correct the changes and prevent you from making any further changes.**_ "

"Keepers of time?"

" _ **Yes, they're extremely powerful beasts charged with maintaining the integrity of the timeline. They will respond to any significant change to the timeline,**_ _ **and will attempt to sanitize it**_ _ **.**_ _ **I must also warn you**_ _ **that they are not considered to be Pokemon, so don't bother trying to catch one as**_ _ **that**_ _ **won't work.**_ "

"Significant change to the timeline?" Ash asked.

" _ **Changing the outcome of an important battle, saving someone that isn't meant to be saved, letting someone die that isn't meant to die,**_ _ **a significant enough drift in the altered timeline**_ _ **from**_ _ **the prime timeline,**_ _ **so on and so forth**_ "

"So, when I save my family, I'll not only need to worry about Team Omni but also these keepers?"

" _ **Most likely, yes.**_ "

Ash took a moment to collect himself before giving Mewtwo an answer. He knew that if Mewtwo called these keepers of time powerful, then they must be unimaginably strong. He also knew that if he accepted this offer, he would have to do his utmost to preserve the timeline as much as possible, lest he have a premature run in with a keeper of time before he was ready to face one. On the other hand, this could be his only chance to be his family again.

After giving it another moment of thought, Ash turned to look Mewtwo directly in the eyes before giving his answer.

"I'll do it."

" _ **Very well, Prepare yourself,**_ " Mewtwo stated as his eyes glowed blue.

What Ash felt next, could only be described as... _weird_. It was as if everything he felt was reversed. Gravity felt like it was pushing him away from the ground, he felt his vector change as if the Earth suddenly started spinning in reverse, and he felt the blood in his veins and arteries move in reverse yet strangely no harm was done to his veins. He quickly realized that it was only his mind that was experiencing this, and that he was merely perceiving himself traveling backwards through time. That of course did not make the experience any less nauseating, as he felt himself become lightheaded and dizzy before blacking out entirely.

* * *

Ash suddenly awoke in a bed that seemed unfamiliar to him for a few seconds before he suddenly realized where he was. He was in his room, back in Pallet town. Climbing out of bed, he grabbed the remote turning on the TV and switched to the weather channel. There he saw it, today's date:

 _August 16, 1996_

Ash began chuckling out of pure joy. He was back. Mewtwo did it. Mewtwo sent him back to the very first day of his journey. He had been given a chance at saving the love of his life and he would be damned if he wasn't going to take it.

* * *

 **Author's Notes** : And there you have it, the rewritten first chapter of my unofficial adoption of _Back To Protect_ by "Writing MY Life". I will be loosely following the original text for the first few chapters so expect similarities as well as parallels between the two stories until I finish covering the original material.

A couple of important things I need to inform you about:

1\. Until I settle into my stride my updates will be somewhat erratic, so don't expect a steady update schedule from me. I'll basically be updating the story as I please until I can figure out a pace that works well for me. I will inform you of any changes to the update schedule via the Author's notes at the bottom of every chapter.

2\. Yes, this story is rated M. There wont be any lemons though, sorry to disappoint, I'm just not much of a smut writer. Of course, they'll be implied, as sex is an integral part of pretty much any relationship, no denying that, just know that it'll happen but off text.

3\. As for the length and structure of the story, I'm not really sure how long it'll be in words, but it'll be split up into five acts, with each act having at least two arcs (A grand total of 14 arcs throughout the entire story), and with each Arc having a multitude of chapters. As for the word length of each chapter, it wont be as short as this one; I'll be aiming for 7-15 thousand words each chapter. I also will _not_ be splitting this story up into several stories on this site, labeling each as _The Butterfly Effect: Kanto Arc_ or some nonsense like that. You'll get it all under one story. I don't want you to have to follow my account in order to get notified of when I upload a new chapter, that's what following the story is for, I want you to follow my account because you're genuinely interested in my work and want to see more of it.

With that, I've pretty much said everything that I needed to say. Please let me know what you think of the chapter as well as the story so far. I greatly appreciate praise and constructive criticism, and I will gladly answer any respectful questions that don't involve heavy spoilers.

Until next time,

David


	2. Chapter 2: Restart

**ACT I:** New Beginnings

 **Arc I:** Kanto

 **Chapter 2:** Restart

Once Ash had finished rejoicing, he remembered that today was the day that he gets Pikachu, and as such it was imperative that he be late. Seeing as his mother hadn't yelled at him yet, he decided to change into his traveling clothes lest he suffer the same embarrassment as last time, when he ran to Professor Oak's ranch in his pajamas. His outfit consisted of his original Kanto trainer clothes: a black t-shirt, a blue jacket with yellow outlines for the pockets and bottom edge of the jacket as well as white sleeves and a white collar, blue jeans, black and white tennis shoes, and of course his signature Indigo League hat which he sent "a million postcards" for. Once he finished tying his last shoelace, almost as if on cue, his mother yells at him from downstairs.

"ASH KETCHUM, WAKE UP THIS INSTANT OR YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE TO PROFESSOR OAK'S!"

 _If only she knew,_ Ash thought before replying "Coming!" an octave higher than he was accustomed to. _Damn prepubescent voice, it's gonna take forever to get my old voice back,_ Ash thought as he walked downstairs.

Once he was downstairs, he saw a 29 year old mahogany haired woman making pancakes and completely froze in shock. This woman was his mother, Delia Ketchum, who he had not seen in over 3 years. She had passed away from a rare and aggressive form of cancer shortly after the end of his journey to Alola as he was getting ready to compete in the World Championship. It had utterly torn him up inside, and if Misty hadn't been there for him he wasn't sure what he would have done. Now, getting to see her after all this time made him have to hold back the unshed tears in his eyes.

"Mo-mom?" he squeaked, and ran towards her before he hugged her waist, burying his face into her apron.

"Ash?" she asked, wondering why he was acting so strange.

"I-I'm okay," he reassured her."M-Mom, thank you for everything that you've ever done for me, I love you," Ash said while trying not to cry.

Delia was momentarily surprised and wondered what brought this on, before smiling and returning the hug. "Oh, Ash, you don't have to thank me, I was just doing what any mother would do. And I love you too, sweetheart," Delia said.

"I know, but I just want to let you know that I really do appreciate what you've done for me," Ash said.

"Oh, all right dear. Now, you should get started on your breakfast or else you're going to be really late," Delia said.

"Right," Ash said before sitting down and plowing into breakfast of pancakes, sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast. It wasn't five minutes later that he had finished his breakfast and brushed his teeth, before he was running out the door shouting "bye Mom, I'll be back later!"

* * *

Once he was out of sight of his house, he slowed to a slow walk, wanting to make sure that he was late and that he had enough time to think of his plan.

Team Omni, just the name alone made his blood boil. ' _Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent_ ' was their motto, and boy did they take it seriously. They did anything and everything under the sun in order to achieve their goals, from cloning and genetic experimentation on pokemon, to creating artificial intelligence, to infiltrating every level of government for espionage and sabotage purposes as well as to frame those who oppose their will. It took everything he had to bring them down, and even then, he was only able to do so out of dumb luck.

He would have to do better, he can not afford to just leave his previous teams in the ranch doing nothing and letting their skills atrophy. He will need to rotate his party, and ensure that any of his pokemon left at the ranch were busy training and not just laying around. He will also need to catch many more pokemon than he did his first time, and catch types he never had the first time around.

 _I wonder if I'll stumble across a mimikyu before I go to Alola?_ Ash mused. He never really had any ghost or fairy type pokemon before. Sure, he had haunter help him out in his gym battle against Sabrina, but he was never really his pokemon. Regardless, this time he was going to try to catch at least one of every type to have a fully balanced team.

Ash briefly glanced at his hands before remembering that he could use aura. _That's right_ , Ash thought, _I_ _didn't use my aura all that much on my journey, even after I learned about it at the tree of beginning. This time, I'll definitely make sure to use it throughout my journey instead of just towards the end when Riley offered to train me_.

He tried to summon an aura sphere in his hand in order to see if he was still able to use his aura, but found that he couldn't. _Strange_ , he thought, before the reason came to him. _Oh that's right, I still haven't awoken my aura yet. In that case I'll need to perform the awakening ritual soon, but I can't do it here,_ Ash thought with a chuckle as he recalled nearly blinding Riley and Pikachu while performing the ritual. Riley had told him that the reason this happened was because he didn't wake up his aura at the age of five like he was supposed to, and thus ended up with a lot of backed up aura. With that thought, Ash resolved to train himself and his aura between now and the rise of Team Omni.

Speaking of which, how much time _did_ he have before he had to fight Team Omni? Ash began to think back on his journey so far:

 _I spent about a year here in Kanto,_

 _six months in the Orange Islands,_

 _a year in Johto,_

 _a year in Hoenn,_

 _six months in Kanto for the Battle Frontier,_

 _a year in Sinnoh,_

 _a year in Unova,_

 _a year in Kalos which is when I finally won the league,_

 _six months in Alola with Misty, which is when we first started encountering Team Omni,_

 _after that I took six months off of traveling and I spent it in preparation for the World Championship,_

 _a year for the World Championship,_

 _two years where Misty and I settled down and started our family,_

 _and then that's when Team Omni put their plans into motion._

 _So that's seven years before we start seeing Team Omni, and 11 years until they put their plans in motion._ Ash thought, doing the mental math. He should have plenty of time to bring down Team Omni before their reign can begin.

But all of this will have to wait, because just then he turned a corner and saw Professor Oak's lab, standing there in all its glory. And of course, just like his first day as a trainer, there was a crowd gathered around the gate to the laboratory, as well as a familiar red convertible parked out front, and six cheerleaders crowded around the gate waiting.

Ash passed the crowds and started walking up the steps to the laboratory, before being stopped by a familiar voice.

"Well, if it isn't Ashy Boy," said a familiar snarky voice. Ash turned around and was confronted with the familiar visage of Gary Oak.

"Hi Gary, how are ya?" Ash said deciding to be polite, not wanting to have to endure such a bitter rivalry like last time. "I bet your pokemon is strong, what do you say we battle once I get mine? I bet I could learn something from the grandson of the great Professor Samuel Oak."

Gary blinked, several times in fact. "U-um sure," Gary said, almost choking at how surprised he was that he wasn't able to get a rise out of Ash. "I believe gramps is waiting for you, so you shouldn't keep him waiting," he said cockily.

Ash nodded as he turned back around and headed towards the lab. _Played him like a fiddle_ , Ash thought while smirking.

Ash opened the door, before looking around. Seeing no one he decided to call out to the professor. "Hello, anyone here?"

"Yes, who is it?" said Professor Oak as he walked to the door. "Ah Ash, there you are, I was beginning to think you weren't going to come today."

"Of course I was going to come, no way was I going to miss out on getting my own pokemon!" Ash exclaimed.

The elderly professor nodded. "In that case, come with me so that you can get your starter," Oak said as he walked to another room. Ash followed him to a familiar room that had a pedestal with three pokeballs sitting on it. "All right Ash, here you go, the three starter pokemon available to trainers in the Kanto region. Charmander, the fire lizard pokemon, squirtle, the water turtle pokemon, and bulbasaur, the seed pokemon," Oak said while pointing to the respective pokeballs. "Choose wisely, for they will be your partner for life."

Just like last time, Ash tried all three pokeballs only to find that they were empty.

"C'mon professor, isn't there another pokemon you could give me, _please_?" Ash begged.

"Well... There is one, but it's not very friendly. I just caught him this morning," he said uneasily.

"I'll take it!" Ash said happily, glad to have his old friend back.

"Erm, well if you're sure," Oak said as he took the pokeball from the cabinet and released the pokemon inside.

The pokemon materialized, and before anyone could even react it suddenly squealed, "PIKAPI!" and leaped up onto Ash's arms, rubbing his head against Ash's chest.

"Well, I'll be darned," Oak said while chuckling and looked at the scratch marks on his hand from when he tried to put Pikachu into the pokeball, "he seems to like you a lot."

Ash chuckled. "I guess so."

Professor Oak led Ash to a desk in the room and for the next five minutes began to explain the rules of pokemon. Once he was finished he opened a drawer in the desk. "Ash, here are some pokeballs as well as your pokedex," Oak said as he pulled out 5 pokeballs, a Kanto pokedex, and Pikachu's pokeball and handed it to the raven-haired trainer. "Now go, make Pallet Town proud!"

"Will do, professor!" Ash said as he left the room with Pikachu scurrying up Ash's arm and sitting on his usual perch on his shoulder.

Ash stopped at the door, and turned his head to Pikachu. "Now remember Pikachu, you're supposed to be a beginner level pokemon, so try to go easy on your opponent," Pikachu nodded. "Do you still remember all your moves?" Pikachu just gave him a look that said ' _Do you even need to ask?_ ' "Right..." Ash chuckled before opening the door and stepping through it.

Ash looked around the crowd before spotting Gary with his new squirtle. "HEY GARY!" Ash shouted causing the brunette to turn around, before giving him a smirk.

"Ashy Boy, so I see you got a mouse!" he said as he laughed at Pikachu. "This should be way too easy! Squirtle, take care of it!" he shouted as his water turtle got into a battle stance.

"Pikachu." He nodded, giving Pikachu a glance to remind him to go easy on him.

"SQUIRTLE, USE WATER GUN!" Gary exclaimed. Squirtle then puffed up its cheeks summoning a small jet stream of water.

"Pikachu, Dodge and then unleash a thundershock!" Pikachu then pretended to have a hard time dodging before jumping to the left and unleashing a weak electrical current on squirtle.

"SQUIRRRR!" it cried out in pain, before falling back with swirls in his eyes. Gary looked as if he himself had been hit by a thundershock, before he was able to snap out his shock.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" cried Gary while returning his Squirtle. "How did you beat me so easily?!" Gary demanded.

"Erm..." Ash was unsure of what he should say. "Well... Pikachu is an electric type while Squirtle is a water type. But aside from that, I think I just got lucky with one really good critical hit. You're a good trainer, so I'm sure that the next time we battle you'll be able to beat me," He said encouragingly.

Gary blinked. He really was not expecting any of this from Ash, he's acting _weird_ today. "Um... Well, thanks Ash, you're right. Next time, I'll beat you! Smell ya later Ashy boy!" Gary said with his usual arrogance before climbing into his convertible along with all of his cheerleaders and was driven away.

When he was out of earshot, Ash looked at Pikachu and whispered "I told you to take it easy with him."

Pikachu merely looked away bashfully while rubbing the back of his head "Pikapika..."

Ash chuckled "Let me guess, you forgot to lower the amperage or something this time?" He nodded. "Well, be careful next time. Anyways, we're gonna have to get a lot stronger if we're gonna take down Team Omni before they rise up, and we're going to have to train really hard until then." Pikachu nodded once more, understanding the gravity of the situation. Truth be told, he always wondered why his trainer never rotated his party, or had his old pokemon train while they were at the ranch.

"So, let's go back to mom, I'm sure she's waiting for us."

"PIKA!" Pikachu readily agreed, it's been a while since he had mom's homemade ketchup.

* * *

It was later in the day when Ash had everything he needed packed into his traveling bag, that the human and electric mouse made it to the entrance to route one. Pikachu groaned from his perch on Ash's shoulder's, and brought a paw to his belly.

Ash looked at his best friend, and chuckled. "Pikachu, I warned you not to eat so much ketchup."

"Piii kapii chuchupii kachupi~!" Pikachu moaned in obvious discomfort.

The raven-haired trainer once again chuckled. "I know you think it was really good Pikachu, but you really gotta control yourself with that stuff, you may be young again, but you wont be for long if you keep this up, especially since you're pretty fat again."

Pikachu narrowed his eyes at his trainer. "Pikachu? Pi chuchu pi ka chu pi?"

"How old do I think you are? Uh, I really don't know Pikachu, you never really did tell me how old you were. On that note, how old are you anyway?"

"Pi chu pi."

"Wait... Was that before or after the time travel?"

"Chuka pi."

"WHAT?!" Ash shouted in disbelief.

Pikachu snickered, they've been together for fourteen years and he never bothers to ask how old he is? He was about to open his mouth to give a snarky remark, but held it back as he felt a wave of nausea overcome him. Before Pikachu could do anything, Ash quickly grabbed his sick starter and ran to a bush.

* * *

Once Pikachu finished purging the contents of his stomach, Ash began to look for a clearing to perform the awakening ritual. The clearing needed to be somewhere away from the main paths, and devoid of any wild pokemon nests, as the ritual tends to be quite bright when performed by anyone over the age of five. After a half hour, Ash finally found a suitable clearing and began setting down his pack.

"Pikapi?"

"I'm gonna be performing the aura awakening ritual, Pikachu. Can you keep a lookout and make sure I'm not disturbed?" Pikachu widened his eyes upon learning what Ash was about to do. Ash chuckled before continuing. "It wont be as bright as last time buddy, as I'm not as old now as I was then." Pikachu nodded and sighed in relief. The last time Ash had tried this, he'd nearly blinded Riley, Lucario, and Pikachu. Not to mention that people halfway across Sinnoh had seen the light emanating from his aura.

With that out of the way, Ash sat down cross legged and entered into a meditative state. He would need to focus in order properly complete the ritual, lest he have to start all over again, or end up doing something far worse to himself. Once he was properly focused, he began diving into his soul in search of the source, where an aura guardian's aura comes from. He needed to be careful however, as there is another source that looks just like the one for his regular aura, but that one is for life aura, and breaking that one open instead of the regular one normally leads to a... drastically shorter lifespan.

As Ash was doing this, Pikachu began to patrol around the area making sure there weren't any wild pokemon nearby. Looking around he found that they were in a very familiar part of the forest. He began to wonder if they were gonna run into Misty again, though considering how they haven't run into that spearow yet he began to doubt that they would. Just then, Ash began to glow a very bright blue as aura began to shoot out of him. True to his word, it wasn't as bright as last time, but it was still very hard to look at.

After breaking open his regular source, Ash sighed in relief. The tricky part was over, now he just needed to fashion a reservoir in order to hold the aura that would leave him otherwise. This reservoir is where aura guardians store and use the aura that they are not using. For most, making a barrel or something of similar volume would be enough for their needs, as their source is comparable to that of a gardening hose. For aura guardians like Ash however, this is hilariously inadequate as their sources are like vast rapids, Thus their reservoirs need to be extremely large, like a lake or even a sea. Of course, these reservoirs don't exist in the physical sense of the word, they are built within the soul of the user (the space between the user's physical body and spirit, where the user's thoughts and emotions reside), which allows for such massive structures to exist in a relatively tiny space. Of course, this is also the reason why aura users must keep their emotions in check, as strong emotions tend to react quite violently with aura.

With this in mind, Ash decides to just make what he made last time: a dam over 700 feet tall and over 1200 feet wide, as well as a vast lake behind it. The dam would act as a regulator, allowing him to turn on and turn off the flow of aura at a whim, with the lake acting as the reservoir proper. It took him around five minutes to finish, and once he was done the aura finally stopped leaving his body.

" **Done? Can you use your aura now?** "

Ash smiled at his starter. Looks like his aura already translating pokespeak for him. "Yep, though I gotta build up my reserves and let the changes settle down before I can do anything meaningful with it. What's weird though is that it's already translating what you're saying."

Pikachu shrugged his shoulders. " **Hey, don't look at me, I'm not your aspect of wisdom. Though if I were to take a guess, I** **'d say** **your aura probably read your mind and figured that you wanted to understand pokemon.** "

"You're probably right, though now that you mention my aspect of wisdom, don't we need to make that connection we had again? You know, to make you my aspect of loyalty?" Ash asked.

" **Nope, your aura already took care of that as well. I felt the connection** **form right as you awakened your aura.** "

"Well, that's... convenient... Why would it just up and do that though? It normally doesn't do anything without me explicitly willing it to do something."

" **Aura has a mind of its own,** **I'm sure it has its reasons. Though you gotta admit that it's being oddly helpful this time around, might want** **to** **look into why it's doing all this without being asked, it might have a good reason.** "

Ash nodded at his starter's words. "I'll ask it when I get a chance, it's still getting settled in." He was about to say more, but was interrupted by a caw. Ash looked towards the source of the sound and saw a spearow who looked as if it was itching for a battle.

 _Must have been drawn to_ _my_ _aura_ , Ash reasoned. "You want a battle?" he asked. The spearow said nothing, and merely nodded. "All right, Pikachu you're up!" he said as his starter jumped in front of him, cheeks sparking with determination.

" _ **Go easy on him,**_ " Ash telepathed through his aura. Pikachu nodded, and got into a battle stance.

Ash waited for spearow to make the first move before the pokemon flew up into the air and then dove towards Pikachu in what Ash recognized to be a peck attack.

"Pikachu dodge and use thundershock!" Pikachu waited until the last second before swiftly dodging to the right and unleashing a weak thundershock.

The spearow cawed in pain before flying back up and turning back around for another peck attack.

"Pikachu, zigzag through the grass before unleashing another thundershock!"

Pikachu went forth and began to sprint towards the spearow, rapidly zigzagging through the grass in order to throw his opponent off before unleashing a wicked thundershock at the flying type. The attack once again struck the spearow, knocking him out in midair. Ash threw a pokeball at the pokemon, causing it to disappear into the ball in a mass of red energy. The pokeball shook 3 times before finally giving off a ding to signify a successful capture.

As luck would have it though, when the thundershock had struck the spearow, it also arced off in a seemingly random direction. It wasn't long after Ash had picked up the pokeball that they heard a familiar voice yell "Ah! My bike!"

 _Fuck, no, not again_ , Ash thought while turning to the sound of the voice. Just as he finished turning he saw a familiar girl with fiery orange hair walking up to him looking absolutely livid.

 _Misty._

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Aaaaand, that's all she wrote. Okay, not my best work, and it certainly falls short of my 7-15k target, but I intended this chapter to be a sort of warm up/mini exposition dump. Just giving you guys a general overview of what happened to Ash the first time around. I stopped this chapter at the same place that _Back To Protect_ stopped its second chapter, because to be honest this is actually a pretty good stopping point for this chapter. That being said however, next chapter will actually be quite a bit longer and will cover more than _Back To Protect_ 's third chapter, so I'll be bleeding into its fourth and maybe fifth chapter. That should keep you guys satisfied for a little while, as well as help in getting the original's content out of the way as soon as possible so I can start getting into more original territory.

Needless to say, this story IS in fact AU, because in this story's universe, water is not flammable.

Anyways, responding to the reviews:

 _Nami:_ Yes I am indeed not going to change their dynamic all that much. There'll be some differences of course, as Ash has matured and has gotten a lot better at diffusing Misty's anger over the years but a lot of the bickering and play-fighting will remain. And of course, as you can clearly see, I changed it back to him frying her bike again. :)

 _St. Elmo's Fire:_ Thank you for this, I actually needed a refresher in grammar. I've been referring back to your review every once in a while when I'm unsure on how exactly I should structure the dialogue as it's quite enlightening, though I am of course still a bit unsure in certain parts. Still, I'll always give it my best shot. Thanks again, I appreciate it.

And with that, I bid thee, adieu. Until next time!

Have any comments? Constructive Criticism? Questions?

Let me know, I appreciate them all!


	3. Author's NotePost-Mortem

**Author's Note/Post-Mortem**

I feel as if I must apologize to you all, when I had first starting writing this fic back in December 2016, I had every intention of finishing my own version of Back to Protect. I was (and still am) rather taken with time travel fiction of all kinds, whether it be original novels like _The Time Machine_ by H.G. Wells, movies like _Back to the Future_ , and fanfiction where the main character gets to do a redo of their life in order to make better choices. So why am I apologizing instead of writing this fanfiction, you may ask?

I frankly don't think I can actually finish this one.

Don't get me wrong, I somewhat enjoyed writing this fic for you all, and I do want to eventually write and finish what TVTropes likes to call a Peggy Sue, however I realize that I do not really enjoy writing _Pokemon_ (or anything similar) fanfiction, as much as I would like. Why, you ask?

I'm pants at writing action scenes when it comes to this franchise.

It's not for lack of trying either, I've spent nearly 7 months trying to figure out how I'm going to make the battles, not only in this chapter but in this fic in general, something that's not dreadfully boring to you, my dear reader. And believe me, I really do want to make it interesting to you, but there are only so many pokemon attacks I can call out before even _I_ get bored. Considering how there was going to be at least _two_ major fights (in the form of gym battles) every chapter in this fic, that weakness in my writing was going to add up real quick and turn off _a lot_ of you from reading further. I actually cringe _while_ writing the action in this fic, because I can't seem to figure out how to meet my own standards for action, and given how much action there is in Pokemon, every chapter is painful to write. Not only that, but I've actually never liked the action in any Pokemon fanfic that I've ever read, period. I mostly just skip it all to get to the dialogue or to the description of the scene. I could of course just write a fic that doesn't have any pokemon battles in it, and call it a day, but then it wouldn't really be Pokemon now would it? So it is probably for the best that I let this fic die quietly and instead try writing another Peggy Sue in another franchise where the focus of the writing isn't in an area that will make me want to print out one of those fliers that says "Bang head here" on it, and actually use it.

With that in mind, I ask myself, where do I go from here, now that I've turned my back on _Pokemon_?

I'll probably end up doing fanfiction either in _Harry Potter_ (which is a lot heavier in the dialog and scene building department), The Legend of Zelda (which, while action heavy, can be easily written without too much of it), or a crossover between the two franchises. I would consider _The Lord of the Rings_ but I don't think I could spend thirty minutes describing the landscape each chapter. You'll know what I decide once I post my next fic to my profile.

Before I wrap this up, allow me to provide one last thing for those of you disappointed with me not finishing this fic: an outline of sorts so those of you that want to take it up in my stead and continue in the direction that I was going to take it in, can do so. I had sort of settled on three acts (yes, I cut it down from the five acts I was going to do previously. The story just flowed better that way, to be honest), and several arcs of sorts within each act. A lot of the specifics were in the air as I was either following the original material of Back to Protect, or making stuff up as I go along. That isn't to say the _entire_ story was being made on the spot, I did plan a few events after all, but a lot of the finer details while I was writing just came to me. Now obviously, you don't need me to tell you that these next few paragraphs pretty much spoil the entire story for you, so be warned if you want to wait for someone else to actually finish this. Also, I don't need to tell you that Team Rocket is omnipresent throughout all three acts, they wouldn't be Team Rocket otherwise.

The first act follows canon fairly closely. Going by regions, the first act comprises Kanto, The Orange Islands, and Johto (each region being a separate arc). There are of course a few main differences. Firstly, Ash catches a shitload more pokemon than his first time around (and I mean a _shitload_ more), he also trains them up as much as he can. Secondly, Misty has Aura powers as well. After the second movie, Ash helps Misty unlock her aura, and in doing so causes her to gain her memories from the future (this was more a way to get her to be as mentally old as Ash, then anything else). Thirdly, Johto would have had a focus on Ash and Misty rekindling their relationship. Fourthly, at the end of Johto, Misty will follow Ash to Hoenn after craftily making the Pokemon League place a substitute gym leader in the Cerulean City Gym. The reason for this is rather simple: She, as Ash's wife, is not going to let Ash face what's coming all by himself. And finally, Team Rocket won't follow Ash around for Pikachu, but they will follow him for his other pokemon. Throughout the entire act, Team Omni will be keeping tabs on Ash, as well as researching the lore of all the different regions (Kanto, The Orange Islands, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Orre, etc...).

The second act will have Ash really buckling down and focusing most of his energy on training his pokemon as well as himself, as he is running out of time. The Second act consists of just two arcs: Hoenn, and the Battle Frontier. Ash will once again meet, and travel, with May and Max (though May will be wearing her ORAS outfit, much Ash and Misty's bewilderment). Team Omni will spend most of the Hoenn arc continuing their research into the lore of the different regions, but they will discover the legend of Dialga and will begin building their forces during the Battle Frontier arc so that they can take control of Dialga by stealing the time gears. This act is mostly just preparation and such. May and Max, of course, leave after the Battle Frontier like in canon.

The third act is where things really start to become different. It will be composed of four arcs: Sinnoh, Fear, Omni, Epilogue. Sinnoh, Fear, and Omni all take place in Sinnoh, the Epilogue takes place back in Kanto. Sinnoh starts off like in canon, with Dawn joining Ash, Misty, and Brock in their travels. After the first encounter with Team Galactic, Ash and co. encounter Team Omni for the first time, and as the arc progresses they encounter Team Galactic and Team Omni more and more. Eventually, a full blown war breaks out between Galactic and Omni, with Ash and co. as well as Team Rocket caught in the middle. Eventually, Team Omni beats Team Galactic, and Team Omni begins stealing the Time Gears from around the world. At the end of the Arceus movie, Team Omni steals the 18th and final Time Gear, causing time to stop, Dialga to revert to its primal state, and Ash and co. get sent into Mystery dungeon universe (thus beginning the Fear arc). Ash and co., now all Pokemon (I'll leave their forms up to you), have to collect all the time gears and quell a raging Dialga, all while eluding Team Omni. Once they finish collecting all the time gears, they get sent back to the normal world (beginning the Omni arch) where they have to fight a full scale war, alongside the pokemon league, against Team Omni. They eventually manage to defeat Team Omni, with everyone miraculously alive, and thus the epilogue arc begins. I don't have anything written for the epilogue, so I also leave that up to you.

Hopefully, this will satisfy some of you who would have wanted to know where this story was headed. I'm really sorry that I wasn't able to complete it. I won't delete this fic, because it was my first attempt at a fanfic, and leaving it up will serve as a sort of reminder, as well as to show how far my writing has come since I started.

Sincerely yours,

Davkilla101


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